1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices and more specifically to surgical cutting devices and methods for performing surgery using such devices.
2. Background Information
Many types of surgical procedures are routinely performed that require use of surgical cutting devices which enable removal of hard or soft tissue from the body. For example, arthroscopic surgery is a procedure, often minimally invasive, in which an examination of interior of a joint is performed using an arthroscope, with which a surgical device, such as an arthroscopic catheter, may be employed for treatment. Arthroscopic procedures can be performed either to evaluate or to treat many orthopedic conditions including torn floating cartilage, torn surface cartilage, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, and trimming damaged cartilage and/or bone.
Typical catheter-based surgical cutting instruments include an outer cannula or sleeve with a cutting aperture and an inner cannula or tube rotatably mounted within the outer cannula with a cutting or grinding surface at the tip, such as a screw or burr. Examples of instruments of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,734, U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,611, U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,479 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,848.
Two major disadvantages of such devices is their inability to (1) macerate or grind cut tissue that is drawn into the inner lumen of the device to an extent sufficient to avoid clogging of the lumen and allow aspiration of the tissue from the device, and (2) be used to treat more than one tissue type. In the latter respect, an arthroscopic procedure may entail removal of both hard tissue and cartilage. Many devices whose cutting tips are aggressive enough to remove bone are too aggressive to be used on cartilage without risk of damaging tissue around the treatment site. Yet having a device which can be used with one such tissue but not the other requires deployment of multiple devices over the course of a procedure, adding to its length, cost and complexity.
Accordingly, there has been a need for an improved surgical cutting device that has a reduced blockage profile and is capable of treating both bone and cartilage.